binman

Hawks got bugger all because as the winner of the flag their first round pick was 18. The compo for such highly paid players is the next pick after their first round pick. Its sad to say but we are almost certain to finish last and therefore have pick number 1. And if Frawley gets a long term deal around the 700k mark we will get pick 2.

I can't either. Which reminds me. I had to laugh hearing Malthouse say he didn't see the loss against the bombers coming. He really was Neelds mentor wasn't he.

True. What if we win? Would be ironic if the blues were then accused of tanking. I have to say it is just our luck to come up against a side 0-3 and that is 'seething'. That said surely we need no other motivation to beat them. What joy that would be! Roosy should email our list a link to the Brock Mclean interview where he put us in it. I have to say the pressure is all on them not us!

To my list of defenders who have been regularly among our best i'd add Garland. He was terrific last year and showed true leadership. This was reflected by his second in the Bluey, only 5 votes behind Jones (365 - 360)

I don't care about what they say in the papers. What about your opinion as footy follower.? Lets take the 3 games this year. Has he been our best player - or even among the best - in any of the 3 games? How many games last year do think he was one of our best players? My answers are none and very, very few. And the bluey is decided on by the club not footy journos who don't recognise a truly valuable performance. As for being named in the best when you are continually under siege as defender, Laurie Fowler won 3 Blueys when were consistently near the bottom. Steven Icke won one when we were struggling as did Danny Hughes and Steven Smith (who played as a backman in the year he won). Gary Hardeman was both a star and a true leader for us. Peter Giles and Sean Wight were two more inspirational players that played well in key posts down back in struggling sides.

Oh no - i feel ill thinking about the Wright (nee kruezer) cup. We'll blow it again! Crucial game this week?

Fair enough re BOG. But what about our best player? When was the last time he was clearly our best player. How has he gone in the bluey in the last few seasons? Of course he will be better at a better club. But that doesn't mean he should not play with heart and passion whilst he is with us. He needs to take a leaf out of Nahan Jones's book.

Huh? I fail to see how saying it would take $800k to make him move is in any material way different to asking for 800K. Semantics. I should point out that i did say the HUN said he was asking for that money and so is likely to be bulltish. In any case we wont be paying any where near that amount (excect to play ducks and drakes and face his value on the open market up) as Roos will take pick 2 in a heartbeat.

Ordinarily i would argue for keeping players but to be honest i've lost patience with Frawley. The HUN says he's asking for $800k. Surely his management is taking the pizz. As someone noted when, in a crap side, was he last BOG?. As i've said about Jones one of the best ways to judge a player is how he goes in a crap side. Frawley has failed that test. He has been woeful this year and he is on our leadership group. I loved Gary Lyons reaction to the question would he take pick 2 for Frawley. After a long pause and a smirk he said he would probably consider it. Pick 2? I'd take in a heartbeat. As for the pick 2 the Hun article made me laugh and cry. It simply said categorically that if he goes we will have pick 1 and 2, which assumes of course we will finish bottom. 3 games into the season and it's a done deal we're getting the wooden spoon (or as the bookies have to avoid ASADA related problems - the team with the most losses!)

....or don't

Fight Apathy!

I agree. I reckon he was lucky not to be dropped this week and i'll bet Roos thought long and hard about it. He would have been torn i guess as he'd be concerned about destroying his confidence. If he plays that way again i doubt he'll be shown the same leniency. I can only assume Roos has made that abundantly clear to Watts. I wonder if this could be the cross roads for Watts - his own personal line in the sand moment?

He can be but he misses a lot of targets and can sometimes bomb away and cause a turnover.

I haven't posted anything about last weeks game as i have been (and remain) just too deflated by it. And BB your stat about 11 players having 4 tackles between them sums up why. I haven't even looked at the stats but i'd be guessing Michie and the Toump are among them. In Roos' list of nonnegotiables i reckon tackling would be number 1. As BB says embarrassing. Its one reason why i'm really surprised McKenzie is not in this weeks side as Misson said he was pretty close to cherry ripe. I suspect a reason McKenzie wasn't picked (and the Toump and Michie were dropped) was because of his pace.. Our lack of pace was completely exposed on the big spaces of the G last week. It is a big problem. But not as big a problem as the players mental state. How they could not have been up for last weeks just staggers me. They were half asleep in the first quarter and their skill was as bad as i can ever recall it throughout the match. What was really surprising is that Roos showed faith and took an unchanged side in to the match. And they repaid him with tripe. A few other comments about the game. Trengove has to go in the middle. I am a Watts fan but he was woeful last week in terms of effort . Again Roos has shown faith in him and he should have repaid it - he is now a senior player. Some of his efforts (tackling. standing off packs, not going at the ball carrier) were plain embarrassing Frawley is great one on one in marking duels but his disposal is horrible and he made worse by his him often taking high risk options Dunn was terrific and reiterate my claim he is in our top 8 players and absolutely should be on the DL banner - get rid of Howe (who seems to have gone backwards) and Frawley (leader my arse) from the banner for a start And finally i have to say: Jones can butcher the ball but that was one of the best games i've ever seen from a MFC player. Not the most damaging but for pure guts and refusal to lie down up with some of the great games i watched Flower play through the dark days of the 70's and 80's. The mark of a great player in my view is one who plays best when their team is getting thumped. Respect. Frawley, Watts et al - that's what leadership is about.

I think it says mastication. That list has been chewed up and is ready for digestion

I agree with your post but to split hairs ''I'm reluctant to give a time frame" is being given information. It accurately reflects Tippets injury situation. I would rather they have said that about Dawes and Hogan from the get go (as they have funnily enough with Clarke)

I'm already looking for an off season period full of hope, positive training news and the number 1 draft pick.

More comedy gold. I have only a handful of posters blocked and for all but one the blocking is about the craziness and offensiveness of their posts. The exception just wore me down with banality, repetitive arguments, refusal to let things go, childish [censored] for tats with other posters and just plain painfully illogical posts. Now i have two such posters. Bye Bye.

One of the most moronic comments i have seen on DL. Which is no mean feat.I mean the Toump has to, for the rest of his career, be judged by the performance of Wines. Why stop there? Why not judge him by the performance by every other player in his draft taken after him? So, so stupid. We picked the Toump. He is a dees man. Wines plays for an opposition club. Unless history can be changed that is the end of the story. And even if it can there would be a lot of other things i'd change first. It is utterly comical whining (pardon the pun) about something that cannot be changed. Ridiculous.

Fair whack Webber re suggestions they may have mismanaged Hogan. I should not have included that in my post as it is really a furphy and it distracts from my point, which is about the importance good, reliable information about injuries that can be trusted. I don't mean super specific injury reports - just reasonably transparent ones. Failure to provide this opens them up for ill informed conjecture. Again take the Hogan case. You say a chronic back injury occurs not from an incident but arises insidiously. That's exactly my point. It was the club that said specifically said it arose from an injury sustained in the Cats NAB game - the club. This framed the expectations of how long it would take Hogan to recover. An injury that arises insidiously is surely a different kettle of fish in terms of potential treatment and time out than a specific injury caused in a match. It appears not to be true that the injury occurred from an incident. Call it spin from the club, misinformation or just plain lying. My point is it is counterproductive and not an effective or honest way to communicate to your members and fans. if the club had come out and said something like what you are saying in your post (ie we have a young fella growing into his body, we're not sure when he will back, could be quite a while as each person responds differently, we won't put a time frame on it just yet etc) then fans could properly calibrate their expectations. It would also make it easier to accept and deal with a headline that says Hogan set to be sidelined until May. Instead misinformation, as it always does, feeds confusion, conspiracy theories and suspicion of motive.

Just watched the Misson injury report. Made a really interesting comment. Said Garland, Jamar and McKenzie would all be right to play this weekend. When asked how long before AFL ready he said Jordy ready to go, having not missed a beat over the preseason before this little niggle. Didn't say straight out Jamar and Garland were not ready for AFL (though clearly implied it) but pointedly said it would be up to the match committee if they are selected. Ordinarily he would have said Casey this week and i'd be shocked if the match committee would not be guided by Misson about fitness and match readiness. Suggest two things. One, Jordy will play. Two, the match committee, or more likely Roos has said we need those boys in the team. Ready or not. Maybe they'll be picked? Perhaps also suggests some tension between Misson and the coaches?

Without wanting to labor the point one of the big problems with the club not not giving accurate information about injuries is the amount of confusion it can cause. Case in point is this article about Hogan. It says 'Hogan first experienced soreness in his back following Melbournes NAB Challenge clash with Geelong in Alice Springs in late February'. It also describes his injury as chronic back soreness - which is strange, I would have thought if in fact he was hurt in the Geelong game. How has it become chronic in a month? In fact we know there was problems before the Geelong game as a DL poster noted he was treatment on his lower back at the training session before it (should he have played?). And Jesse apparently mentioned he had some issues before the Cats game whilst on the footy show. It all sounds fishy. And makes me suspicious of the club at a time when they need all the support and faith they can get. Perhaps he has not been managed as well as he should have been.

'He had the highest vertical leap of ANY player at draft camp.'??? Sylvia couldn't jump over a can of beans. Fun game. We're assuming it's a trick question and the player was/is a dud (or perhaps just not top 5). I'm guessing i don't have a clue

Link: http://www.melbournefc.com.au/news/2014-04-01/big-men-dearth-continues-for-dees

. Roos was asked about it on 360. He said it was bollocks and only spoke to the team for 5 minutes.